Chloroform
by Kieno0324
Summary: What was Naru thinking when he found Mai passed out from the chloroform poisoning? What did he feel? A short on a theory I have from reading between the lines.


It just hit me. What was Naru thinking when he found Mai passed out from chloroform? What was his reaction on the inside? I just thought that I'd try to delve into the mind of the boy that is Naru.

* * *

Naru was annoyed by the fact that Mai hadn't returned from her small duty of checking the cameras. He didn't know how a person could get distracted so easily. Then he had met Mai. Mai changed all the rules of everything that he had ever learned. Which wasn't a good thing as far as he was concerned. After all, _he_ was the one that was being forced to go search for the girl. The monk's reasoning had been that he had sent or to check the cameras so he could go retrieve her.

'Stupid monk. I have more important things to do than go find a girl that probably got lost in this school.' Naru thought darkly. He heard a door slam shut and he frowned before walking towards where he had heard the door slam shut. He made his way down the hall and felt his eyes widen as he smelt chloroform coming strongly from one of the science labs.

Had one of the students stayed behind and accidentally knocked a bottle of it from the shelves? He covered his mouth and nose and made his way towards the door that the smell was coming from. He reached out and pulled on the door and found it was locked. He frowned before he pulled his handkerchief out and tied it around his face before he reached out and pulled on the door and finally forced it open.

What he saw inside him made him more sick than any chloroform could make him. Mai was lying on the floor completely unconscious and looking as though she weren't breathing. Naru went to her and swung her up into his arms and ran, although he wasn't aware of running, as fast as he could from the science lab to the nurse's office. He realized that the nurse wasn't in as the school day was over and he growled to himself.

He had a doctorate in paranormal psychology but he wasn't able to tell if Mai was going to live or not. And it annoyed him. No, annoy wasn't the right word. Aggravate? No, that wasn't right. What was the name of that feeling in the pit of Naru's stomach that made him realize that he had no idea how to help Mai in her current state.

'_Worry_.' a voice whispered in his ear and he felt his stomach drop at the thought that the feeling was worry. There was no way that he was worried about the girl. That would be...wrong. He wasn't worried about her. The feeling had to be something else, anything else. But somehow, that one little word clicked with exactly how he was feeling about what was happening with Mai.

"Naru, what are...oh my god! MAI!" he looked up as Ayako and Takigawa dashed to the bed that he had laid Mai down on. Ayako was gently brushing Mai's forehead before looking at Naru with narrowed eyes but he kept his face blank.

"I went looking for her and found her in one of the science labs. It smelled as though she had knocked over a bottle of chloroform. She had passed out from the smell." Naru said and Ayako continued to stroke the girl's forehead.

"How long she was in there?" Ayako asked and Naru narrowed his eyes. It clearly told them that Naru didn't have any idea how long she had been in the science lab. Ayako gave a soft sigh before she blinked as Naru sat down beside Mai on the bed and she frowned before Takigawa began to tug on her arm and she was being forced to move away from the bed.

"Let's go tell the others that Mai's in the infirmary." Takigawa suggested as he dragged Ayako out of the room leaving Naru alone with the unconscious girl. She looked so fragile lying there as though she may never move again. Her breathing was so light that her clothes barely moved when she _did_ breath. And it wasn't healthy breaths by any means, but shallow and raspy. As though something was stuck in her throat.

'Mai, wake-up.' Naru thought almost in a begging tone. He hated hearing it in his head but he would give anything to see her brown eyes open and to see that annoying smile on her face again. Just to know that she was _alive_.

It seemed like decades as they all waited for her to wake. But the moment her eyes flickered Naru was bent over her in an instance. He watched as her eyes opened groggily and for some reason his stomach dropped as her hazy eyes locked on his. His eyes softened for a millisecond before the chaos erupted and he watched in silence as Mai told them what happened and he felt a scowl.

He knew what he and Lin had to do now. He was done playing games. The entities had made their mistake in targeting Mai. Now it was time to pay them back and Naru wasn't going to hold back. At all.

* * *

I realized, after reading Mai's version of this scene that after the ceiling collapsed on her and Naru he decided to turn the curse back. I mean, wouldn't that normally take a lot of thought and concentration? I know it took time to make the hitogatas but the decision to return the curse seemed...rather sudden and vicious on Naru's part. Almost as though he was angry that Mai was being targeted? Just a theory. Probably wrong, but a theory. Please let me know what you think! I haven't been getting many reviews lately and it makes me very sad...please make an author happy! 


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